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Soccer Saturday: Your Running Commentary

LeroyFerNetherlands1-ChileWorldCup2014 (AP)

By ADAM TROXTELL

The Netherlands will try to put what has so far been a rough Euro 2016 qualifying campaign behind them against Turkey in one of many international games on Saturday.

After finishing third at last year’s World Cup, the Dutch side has been brought back down to Earth with a string of disappointing results that leaves them third in Group A. While they will most likely qualify in an expanded European Championship field, a win against Turkey would boost that bid.

Similarly, the Turks have found qualifying difficult, sitting two points behind Holland in fourth. The absence of Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben through injury gives them a reason to be optimistic, though in-form Wolfsburg striker Bas Dost will look to carry the Netherlands’ attack forward just the same.

Italy’s qualifying campaign is going smoothly so far, and that looks to continue on a trip to fourth-place Bulgaria. The Italians will look to take advantage of any slip-up by first-place Croatia, who has a tough task against third-place Norway in Group H.

Javier Hernandez will start for Mexico in tonight’s friendly against Ecuador, despite playing a bit-part role in Real Madrid’s La Liga campaign so far. Head coach Miguel Herrera also named Jesus Corona as the starting goalkeeper, ahead of Guillermo Ochoa.

If you will be watching any of today’s action, feel free to leave your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (today’s soccer on TV schedule after the jump):

TODAY’S SOCCER ON TV

11 a.m. — ESPN Deportes — Kazakhstan vs. Iceland

11 a.m. — beIN Sports en Espanol — Leganes vs. Numancia

1 p.m. — ESPN3 — Azerbaijan vs. Malta

1 p.m. — ESPN Deportes — Croatia vs. Norway

1 p.m. — Fox Soccer Plus — Israel vs. Wales

1:15 p.m. — beIN Sports en Espanol — Recreativo Huelva vs. Real Betis

3 p.m. — DirecTV/MLS Live — New England vs. San Jose Earthquakes

3 p.m. — GolTV USA — Ituano vs. Portuguesa

3:45 p.m. — Fox Sports 2 — Netherlands vs. Turkey

3:45 p.m. — ESPN3 — Andorra vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina

3:45 p.m. — ESPN3 — Belgium vs. Cyprus

3:45 p.m. — ESPN Deportes — Bulgaria vs. Italy

4 p.m. — DirecTV/MLS Live — Montreal Impact vs. Orlando City

4:30 p.m. — beIN Sports USA — El Salvador vs. Argentina

7 p.m. — DirecTV/MLS Live — New York City FC vs. Sporting Kansas City

7 p.m. — DirecTV/MLS Live — D.C. United vs. LA Galaxy

7:30 p.m. — DirecTV/MLS Live — Columbus Crew vs. New York Red Bulls

8 p.m. — DirecTV/MLS Live — Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Portland Timbers

8:30 p.m. — DirecTV/MLS Live — Houston Dynamo vs. Colorado Rapids

8:30 p.m. — DirecTV/MLS Live — FC Dallas vs. Seattle Sounders

9:30 p.m. — ESPN2 — Mexico vs. Ecuador

Comments

  1. There are a number of decent matches today; Netherlands-Turkey looks especially intriguing. I just hate that from 7-830 six MLS games will be kicking off. I usually watch as many as possible — today I’ll have to be much more selective.

    Reply
    • I usually save a couple for Sunday morning viewing. One benefit to the way they have it set up now is that all of the Saturday games are available any time on MLS Live and you don’t have to wait for them to ‘un-Black-Out’ like you do for the Sunday games on Fox and ESPN.

      I for one am not looking forward to ESPN taking over the streaming next year. I can’t stand ESPN3’s set up. It takes forever to get the game on, and if it knocks out for any reason you miss 15 min. of the game trying to get it set back up again. Both MLS & NBC use much better streaming services.

      Reply

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